About to be a new user, But have a couple Questions?

I am about to be a new user to Carrara but I am on a limited budget and at this time can only afford the standard version. Can someone tell me the major difference between the standard and the pro? Also is standard a good jumping off point with hopes to upgrading later?

This may sound strange, but the Standard version will function as the Full Pro version with all the tools for the first 30 days.
then it'll revert back to Standard,.
and the icon's and function of the pro version will disappear.

This gives you the 30 days to evaluate and get an upgrade / return

Also,.. The Trial / Demo version operates in the same way,. so in theory you could Try out the Pro version in the Demo for 30 days, then get the Standard or Pro.
The demo/trial is available at www.download.com

Pro boosts certain workflows (it's not always logical, but more or less) in 3 main categories:
modeling - additional tools in the vertix modeler, 3D Paint, UV Map tools
animation - global illumination baking, animation grid, negative lights, normal maps, render farm, Ocean
import/export - FBX output, LWO import, motion tracker
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If you are a new user, it might be a while before you are ready for Pro features, but if you want to animate will will probably want Pro sooner.

Like 3dage said, it would be wise to download the demo of Carrara and try it out first. Carrara 8.5 is in beta now and should be finished SOON. Daz usually has a nice sale when they release a software upgrade so if you time it right you could save a lot of money on an upgrade; unfortunately there is no hint of when to expect C8.5

I had a bug report that got cleared after 14 months last week with no comment.
(turns out it was user error)
When I 'complained' Richared Haseltine said it might be because they are about to issue Car 8.5.
Because clearing old b ug reports was something they did before releasing a new 'version'.